AL JAZEERA
Lawyer Michael Vidler said the case is about sexual minorities being recognised in Hong Kong PHOTO/AFP
Groundbreaking ruling by court of final appeals will force government to rewrite city’s marriage laws.
A transgender woman in Hong Kong has won a groundbreaking court appeal allowing her to marry her boyfriend and forcing the government to rewrite the city’s marriage laws.
The woman in her 30s, known in the Court of Final Appeal as “W” under anonymity rules, successfully overturned earlier verdicts that said marriage is only allowed between couples who were of the opposite sex at birth.
W, who underwent sex realignment surgery more than five years ago, argued that her post-operative gender was recognised by the law and that previous rulings were a violation of her constitutional rights.
She also said that her reassignment surgery had been government-subsidised.
The city’s Registrar of Marriages had argued that she could not wed her boyfriend because her birth certificate – which cannot be altered under Hong Kong law – said she was male.
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